Weekly HOMILY for May 4, 2008: Ride On!

Ascension of the Lord, Cycle A
Our Lady of Grace
May 4, 2008

Focus: Learning to Ride a Two-Wheeler
Function: How riding a two-wheeler helps us understand Jesus’ Ascension into heaven and the Sending of the Holy Spirit
Form: Analogy


Ride on!
By (Rev. Msgr.) Nicholas P. Amato

Riding a Two-Wheeler

Remember the first time you rode a two-wheeler?

Chances are you fell more than once and scraped your knees and elbows more than a few times.

It was hard trying to learn how to (1) Balance your weight, (2) Peddle fast enough to move forward, and (3) Look where you were going all at the same time.

You thought you’d never be able to quite get it together. It was just too much to deal with!

But also remember that when you were (1) Losing your balance or (2) Not peddling fast enough or (3) Going into an intersection, out would come the strong hand and arm of your dad or mom behind you, holding the bike by the seat while running along side of you.

Then, when your dad or mom felt you were steady enough and sure of yourself, they would … let go – and there you would be, riding out into the world on your very own.

What a sense of accomplishment! Remember the sense of joy and exhilaration? You were riding a two-wheeler all by yourself! Just like a big kid!

It was wonderful to be able to identify with kids bigger than yourself; you, at last were like them!

The Feast of the Ascension

Today – on this the Feast of the Ascension – the Church thinks about its long “bicycle ride” through time.

The fear, the uncertainty, the anxiety that the first Apostles experienced over Jesus’ death, Resurrection and departure are today replaced by a sense of joy, hope and exhilaration.

The task for them is to teach others to be followers of Jesus down through the ages and that continues today.

And while we seem to be on our own to (1) Balance, (2) Peddle and (3) Look where we’re going, it is important to know that Christ is still very much present, as if he were running alongside my bicycle, holding me steady, guiding me on our journey of faith, grabbing me by the bicycle seat, when I am going to tip to one side.

This Feast of the Ascension of the Lord into heaven is not the celebration of Christ’s physical departure from the earth. On the contrary, it’s the celebration of his eternal presence running alongside of us in our bicycle ride of life, if you will.

That’s what “Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age,” means. He will be with us on our bicycle ride of life exerting a gentle influence and on-going presence.

Prayer, Word, Eucharist, and Reconciliation

So just precisely how is he there for us? Well let’s go back to the challenges of riding a two-wheeler.

There will be times in my life when (1) I may lose my balance… I’ll make a bad choice, say something out of anger, be dishonest and whoa, whoa, there goes my balance as a child of God.

When this happens I have the ability to pray, to turn to God to fill me with his grace and get me back and in balance.

There will be times when I grow weak or weary and (2) I may want to stop peddling, as in the homework is too difficult or I’m not feeling well and I can’t lift a finger or I don’t have the strength to love that person in my family or classroom.

When this happens I have Jesus present as the Holy Eucharist to give me strength to love and to accept others as they are. He wants to be my nourishment.

And yes, there will be times when (3) I’ll take my eye off my goal on occasion and ride into an area that is dangerous or not life giving and I don’t even know it, as in becoming friends with individuals who tease or bully others, or associating with folks who gossip and hurt others.

But, once again, the Lord is there for me in Sacred Scripture to encourage me with new insights or alternative ways of doing things.

Notice that at each moment of my bike ride of life I can count on a “gottcha”! Jesus’ presence to me in Prayer, Eucharist, and Word will always be there.

Conclusion

Today we are experiencing the joy and exhilaration, the sense of accomplishment and victory that we experienced so long ago when we first learned to ride a two-wheel bicycle.

And yet, it’s even more exciting because in knowing that it’s Jesus who rides along with us through our lives, we never have to fear balancing, peddling, and looking out for danger.

To have these assurances it will take our going to Mass every Sunday where we find him present to us in all those important ways.